“My throat is dry and my pannikin is empty, pass therefore the bottle, my friend, and let me moisten my tongue before I tell you how we met the soldiers again at Te Ranga, and of how they took utu from us for their defeat. “I have told you, my friend, that our allies were driven back at Maketu, so we for a time worked hard to complete the very strong entrenchments we were building at Te Ranga, and it would have been well for us had we finished them during the time the soldiers allowed us to do so; but on hearing the big white chief had left Tauranga we relaxed our efforts thereby earning our punishment. For remember this, you boys, that those tribes that during the time of peace do not prepare for war will soon be exterminated and their home fires extinguished. Repair therefore during the time of peace the fences of your pah, furbish up your guns, make cartridges and sharpen your tomahawks, for these are the suitable pursuits for a warrior to indulge in during his days of relaxation from war. We, the Tauranga Maoris, neglected to finish our entrenchments although they were far advanced towards completion, and the soldiers in their courtesy allowed us ample time to do so, but when two moons were nearly dead they lost patience with our dilatoriness and marched out of Tauranga to attack us. “Now the construction of our entrenchments was in this manner. Te Ranga, oh friend, is a long ridge of a hill both sides of which are defended by impassable swamps, so that the soldiers could not outflank or surround us, and our retreat was open. For our defences we had dug high up and across the ridge long lines of rifle pits. This was done in a very crafty way. Each pit would hold ten men, or perhaps twelve, they were dug deep though narrow, so that if the soldiers saw fit to bring their big guns, by crouching down we should be safe from their fire; also the rear lines of pits commanded those in front of it, so that, if driven out of one line, we could still hold the others. “Now it had been our intention to erect fences in front of each line of rifle pits, so as to delay the rush of the soldiers should they charge us, and also to construct covered ways through which we could retreat with safety from one line to another; but this part of the work had not been done, although the lines of pits themselves were all completed. Two moons were nearly dead since our victory, when we heard that the soldiers under another war chief (Colonel Greer) were marching to attack us, and at the council held on receipt of this news each man blamed the other for our dilatoriness in not finishing our defences, but the time to do so was past. Nor could we blame the soldiers, the fault was ours, and we had to make the best of it. Wrangling amongst ourselves was no good, the soldiers were here, we must man the rifle pits and fight as best we could; even without the fences our position was a very strong one.